Save the consumer!... and then make them fall in love with you.

  

Aaaah Content marketing….  

Is the stuff we’re all unwillingly walking into on a daily basis, making our heads spin faster than our compass points. At some point of the day there’s bound to be someone in the office fighting off the tangled mess of branded content they suddenly find themselves in.

There’s no escaping it really.

The general consensus is that consumers hate content marketing because:

•     It’s disruptive
•     It’s always in my face
•     It talks too much
•    You can never trust it

Interestingly enough also, here are a list of symptoms commonly associated with paranoid personality disorder:

•  Aggressive

•  Hostile

•  Judgmental

• Suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her

Maybe the problem with advertising is not really if it lies but rather where it lies.

We are all responsible for the paranoia we harbor against marketing campaigns because we all want things we don't or can't have. But to be fair the majority of bad content we’re forced to consume on a daily basis does little for our neurosis. Unfortunately in the information age knowing what you want is a rare advantage and getting what you want is just plain spooky – especially when you’re using the Internet.

Trouble is, 88% of all brands rely on content marketing to boost their street cred, which means there's an even greater surge of content ready and waiting to drown the masses in gobble-di-goob. It’s a desperate situation really because in an ideal world we’d all just… know. I’d know how you really feel or know what you really need. But we don’t know which is why we find ourselves feeling our way across the cyber abyss in search of answers only to fumble upon adverts disguised as direction.

The word advertising originates from the French word advertiss meaning “to warn” and the latin word advertere meaning to “turn toward”. So when you’ve stripped advertising down to the shivering naked mass that it is, it’s really just someone trying to communicate that we should know better.

So fact is we’re all lost in information and question is: how do we write great content that’ll stand out from the rest and guide the common ignoramus toward knowing something a little better without leaving anyone feeling manipulated and paranoid?

Let’s think about Tarzan for a moment…

We love Tarzan because he’s that good- looking naked guy whose philosophy is to return to the true nature of things – and so should content marketing be.

People love content that wants to reach out and save them from the terrifying grasps of the cyber jungle and its chaos. Tarzan shows a genuine interest in not only helping you – but a genuine interest in… well, just you. Good content should be curious of you, it should smell of sweat, of hard labour, of discovery – of the raw essence of man. It should be filled with wild brilliance, revealing beautiful new views on the world and it’s products you never knew existed. Finally, good content does little to cover the naked truth of desire and above all, its unabridged honesty is so endearing you just have to lean in closer and want to know more

So, it may seem obvious but here are three ways you can save your consumers from the content marketing deluge:

• Be honest. Reveal your ignorance alongside your wisdom and make your consumer your equal.

• Be adventurous. People don’t mind being led down the garden path if they know it’ll be entertaining.  

• Be more curious. Questions are everyone’s kryptonite. Thomas Barret, ‘the father of advertising” began his most famous advertising campaign with the simple question of “Good morning. Have you used Pears soap today?”

We are all in need of saving - especially time and money. But to every advertiser out there, begin with saving your words first. Your customers and your pocket will thank you eventually.